Over 700 people in the Shannonside Northern Sound region have been on jobseekers allowance for over 10 years. The figures from the Department of Social Protection were made available following a freedom of information request. Jobseeker's Allowance is a payment to people who are unemployed and who are actively seeking work.
1,300 people are claiming in Cavan, with 412 people seeking work for between 5 and 10 years. In Roscommon, 821 claims for Jobseeker's allowance are currently active and 808 in Monaghan.
69 claims in Roscommon have been active for 10 years or more, while 90 claims in Monaghan are at or above the 10 year mark. 990 people in Longford and 696 people in Leitrim are currently claiming the allowance. Out of those 135 and 49 have been unemployed and seeking work for over 10 years.
According to this latest release, Westmeath has the highest number of people claiming the allowance at 1,658. 250 out of those have been on Jobseeker's allowance for 10 years or more. Nationally, over 66,000 people are currently on Jobseeker's Allowance, with 7,563 claiming the payment for 10 years or more.
